The convoy slowly came to a stop. The gazes of some people were immediately drawn here. Elvin was the first to get out of the car, followed by Ethan, and then the others.
Quite a few people had come, including Mador and his group of “instructors.”
Everyone’s clothes were bulging. Without needing to show it, people knew what was inside.
After confirming there was no danger, Lance finally got out of the car. Alberto and another person came up to greet him.
“This is Mueller. He is Paul’s cousin.” Alberto didn’t give any more introduction, but just by the special relationship of being “Paul’s cousin,” it was enough for Lance to know his status in the Pasoretto family.
Then he introduced Lance to Mueller, “You should know him.” He didn’t say the name directly, seeming to want to see if Mueller had any understanding of Lance.
The result was not at all unexpected. Mueller obviously knew Lance, “You actually want to test me with such a simple question?”
As he spoke, he stopped looking at Alberto and instead shook hands with Lance enthusiastically, “Lance, it’s great to meet you. I’ve actually been hearing rumors about you all along. You are the most special young man in Golden Port in these years!”
Mueller sighed sincerely. To be able to make Paul take the initiative to give way, although it was said to be for Dover, this was still something that was very rare to happen.
Only when Paul believed that Lance had reached a certain height would he have such a choice.
If it were a small gang, Paul would probably not even explain, just have someone flatten this small gang.
This actually also reflected a fact from the side. With the two unifications of the Empire District, the Five Families had also begun to attach importance to Lance and his people!
For older people, witnessing the birth of such a “new myth” would give them a feeling of being in a trance.
It was as if… they saw their former selves, or their elders, in Lance!
They knew better than anyone how difficult it was to fight for a piece of their own territory in the underworld of Golden Port!
He had always wanted to see Lance with his own eyes. Before this happened, he had some imagination, but when he really met Lance, he found that Lance was more outstanding and excellent than he had imagined.
The imagined picture was not shattered, but instead became more three-dimensional!
Lance also held his hand tightly, “I’m very honored that Mr. Paul and you could invite me to this special meeting. I’m also very happy to meet you, Mr. Mueller.”
“This is not the place to talk, please come with me!” As he spoke, he let go of his hand and invited Lance into the Summit Hotel.
There were some gang members standing in the hotel lobby. Their gazes were all fixed on Lance’s group, filled with a sense of scrutiny.
Some of them had already guessed Lance’s identity. After all, at this age, the number of people in the entire Golden Port whom Mueller would take the initiative to greet was just a small handful.
If you removed the young masters from the Bay Area and limited the scope to the underworld, then the answer was obvious.
Perhaps in the past, they would have had to guess, because besides Lance, there was also Polly.
But with Polly’s death, there was only Lance left in the entire Golden Port.
Their gazes were of all kinds.
Some were filled with admiration, some were a little surprised, and some were filled with distrust and dissatisfaction, each with their own expression.
Lance didn’t care about these ordinary or unfriendly gazes. Elvin might have been a little affected, frowning slightly as he met those clearly unfriendly gazes.
After the five of them entered the elevator, Lance finally said, “You don’t have to care about those people’s gazes and their thoughts, just like a lion never considers what the prey in its mouth is thinking.”
“No matter what their gazes are like, it can’t change a single fact.”
Lance tidied his attire to ensure he wouldn’t be impolite later. The mirrored elevator car reflected his image.
He raised his chin slightly, smoothed a tiny wrinkle on his clothes, and looked at Elvin through the reflection in the elevator door mirror, “Food only affects the taste, not the mood!”
After Mueller heard this, he quite agreed, “A very special saying, Lance. I’ve never heard anyone say it like that. Did you invent it?”
Lance smiled and slightly retracted his chin, which made him look a little more modest, “If no one else has said it like that, then it was me.”
“It’s hard to imagine that a young man like you would have such a state of mind. What did you do before?” This sentence made Mueller ponder it more and more. He became a little curious about Lance’s previous job.
Lance said with a smile, “An ordinary person. Maybe I’m just better at thinking?”
“When I imagine myself as a lion on the grassland, and those who are watching me are just my prey, I don’t feel there is anything special about their gazes.”
“They are just remembering my appearance, so that they will hide far away the next time they meet me, because they know that if they don’t run, they will become food.”
With a “ding,” the elevator doors opened, and Lance’s words also stopped.
Under Mueller’s active guidance, the five of them left the elevator car one after another.
This place was obviously a bit more lively. There were already many people in the hall, both adults and young people.
They were clearly divided into different groups, all sizing up and scrutinizing each other.
It was rare to see such a scene, gathering so many gang leaders together. Even at the peak of the Five Families, it would probably be difficult to see.
Paul was chatting with a white-haired old man. When the sound of the elevator arriving at the floor rang out, he looked over and saw Lance.
After excusing himself to the person next to him, he quickly walked over. He was still two steps away when he extended his hand. Lance took a step forward, and the two hands clasped together.
“Thank you for coming, Lance!” Paul let out a sigh of relief, seeming a little more relaxed.
Lance held his hand and shook it twice, “Is the situation very bad now?”
Paul nodded, “I’ll talk about this later. We’re still one person short. He should be here soon.”
“Anyway, I’m very grateful that you could come!”
Lance heard the gravity in his tone and couldn’t help but ask, “Did something happen?”
Paul didn’t know how to explain. He organized his thoughts, “You know, those people from the Cassia family, and the people from the Kodak family, have already betrayed us.”
“And some of the lower-level gangs have also turned to their side. I didn’t expect this to happen so quickly!”
“We’ve reached a point where we must unite!”
Just like how the Wolf Gang dealt with the small neighborhood families and small gangs in the Port District, he would not take the initiative to invade these people’s interests, but would provide liquor and security, and then annex them.
It seemed that those small gangs still maintained their independence, but as the time they were “annexed” increased, they would also gradually get used to this superior-subordinate relationship and eventually completely obey them.
Many small gangs began to change their stance and join the mayor’s camp. They could not worry about being targeted by the Bureau of Hazardous Materials and could do illegal liquor business as they pleased.
As long as it wasn’t too excessive, the Bureau of Hazardous Materials wouldn’t deal with them. In this era when liquor was more expensive than gold, stable money-making was what the gangs pursued!
For these newly emerging small families and small gangs, they didn’t have much reverence for the Five Families and some of the already famous gangs.
These young people, just like the “spirit of questioning” that was being spread in society now, were even full of distrust and doubt towards the Five Families, and even had a desire to challenge them!
The mayor was using the current chaos to re-establish a new order. Once the new order was established, just like the arrival of every new era, everything old would be ruthlessly thrown to the ground and shattered to pieces, including the Five Families!
The pressure on Paul and the others had been great recently because another major event had occurred, which made him have to decide to do something instead of sitting by and waiting for death.
It was just that now was not the time to talk, so Paul did not tell Lance. After a few words with him, he went to entertain the other guests.
After Paul left, Lance had no intention of socializing with others. He had basically never had contact with the other gangs here, and everyone also kept their distance from each other.
He found a place, got some food, and chatted with Elvin while eating, talking about the surrounding gangs.
By 9:20, the people at the scene were already a little restless. Paul returned here with a grim face.
“The people from the Doug family are not coming. Tonight, it’s just us.”
As he spoke, he had someone open a side hall next to the main hall. Inside was a huge round conference table. As people poured in, the side of the table was quickly filled.
Lance found a place not next to others and sat down. Paul naturally sat at the head of the table, with some middle-aged and even old men sitting next to him.
Lance didn’t know any of them. Fortunately, Alberto was sitting next to him and introduced these people’s origins to him.
“That white-haired one is Fegal’s father, old Keane. Next to him are his two sons.”
“On Paul’s right is Sariford, the current host of the Tita family. I don’t like him very much.”
Alberto knew most of the people here. Before he opened his own company and had his own “career,” he had worked with Paul for a considerable period of time.
This was also a custom, a habit of the Summurian people.
They would confirm that their juniors had the ability to work independently before letting them leave to run their own careers.
Of course, a considerable portion of the income from Lezhu would still be handed over to the family. This was also the family’s reward for taking care of Alberto.
After everyone had sat down, Paul spoke a few words with the two people next to him before saying loudly, “Before we talk about our business, I must tell you one thing. Councilman Wade is about to leave Golden Port.”
The surrounding people immediately let out cries of surprise, obviously all with a look of disbelief.
Lance’s opportunities and times of contact with high society here were not that many. He had only heard some stories about the Wade family, but he did not have a direct understanding of Councilman Wade and his influence.
Unlike the real locals here, the expressions of some of them had changed slightly.
Paul pressed his hands on the table in front of him, “Councilman Wade has been transferred to Usmir State to serve as mayor. You should have heard of that place, in the west.”
Not just in the west, but very far west, with a whole Federation between it and Likalai State!
Someone couldn’t help but ask loudly, “How did they persuade Mr. Wade?”
“I can’t believe any of this is real!”
Paul’s expression was slightly strange, with an expression that was hard to tell if he was crying or laughing, “He will serve as mayor and will receive the nomination for governor candidate.”
One sentence silenced all those who were skeptical about this matter.
A governor nomination.
Having a nomination does not necessarily mean you can become a governor, but in the current era, without a nomination, it is absolutely impossible to become a governor!
And Usmir State was also the territory of the Socialist Party. Strictly speaking, Councilman Wade’s real opponents were only the other one or two governor candidates nominated by the Socialist Party.
He wouldn’t be nominated directly upon arrival. He would first serve as mayor for six years, and only then would he get the nomination.
In other words, they had given him time to work hard, to prepare.
Usmir State was not a particularly economically developed region. This was also one of the reasons why they were willing to accept Councilman Wade. They hoped that Councilman Wade could bring some of the advanced concepts and development models of Golden Port over to help Usmir State achieve a breakthrough in economic growth!
If it were just the position of mayor, it was highly likely that Councilman Wade would not have gone, even if it meant offending the big shots in the state.
To be a mayor in another place was far from being the local emperor in Golden Port.
But the mayor, in order to kick him out, had really paid a high price this time, giving him a governor nomination!
You know, Sidney himself had not yet obtained the qualification to be nominated as a candidate for the governor of Likalai State. Even the nomination for the speaker of the House of Representatives was something he had spent a lot of effort to get.
Although the economically developed Likalai State and a backward place like Usmir could not be compared, a governor was a governor after all. In this era, a governor could even be said to be the king of this land!
Facing such a temptation, Councilman Wade, who had always said he would not leave Golden Port, was finally tempted!
What if he succeeded?
If he succeeded, Usmir, this region far from the core of the Federation, would become his new “private domain.”
He was confident that in a few years, he could turn Usmir into another, even larger Golden Port!
Maybe it wouldn’t be as rich as here, but it would absolutely be Usmir under his control, his kingdom!
There was a risk in this matter because he still needed to be elected to know the result, but with risk came opportunity. Without these risks, he would not have such an opportunity to stabilize the position of governor!
So he would not refuse, nor could he refuse. Even though he knew this was a trick of the mayor to transfer him from here, he still took it!
As long as he could become a governor, he would perform better!
Councilman Wade ate the sugar-coated bullet from the mayor, patted his butt, and prepared to leave, but the trouble was all left to the people in Golden Port who were continuing to fight against the mayor.
He had a lot of connections in Likalai State, which could play a very important role in the fight against the mayor.
During this period, he and Councilman Williams seemed to have done nothing, but in fact, they had already been using their own connections to put pressure on the mayor through the state government, so that he would not disrupt the economic development of Golden Port for his “own selfish interests”!
Someone within the Socialist Party had also called him, telling him that “once you’ve gotten a certain amount of benefits, you should let it go. Excessive greed will not have a good result!”
With these two people around, on the political level, they could at least balance each other out, be equal. Plus, the police department was still under the control of the Bay Area. Everyone could only say that their strengths were comparable.
So during this period, the main conflict in Golden Port broke out in the underworld, the war and annexation between gangs, and did not happen in the light.
But now, two of the Five Families had been dismantled, and Councilman Wade was about to run away. The balance had been completely lost!
This was the most terrifying thing!
Perhaps those small gangs couldn’t feel this kind of breathless feeling, but the three major families, standing at a higher place, already felt the breath of doomsday!
Looking at the faces of some people who still had expressions of “what the f—k are you talking about” and “what does this have to do with me,” Paul explained, “Once Councilman Wade leaves, Councilman Williams may not be able to withstand the pressure from the mayor.”
“In other words, once Councilman Williams can’t hold on, the stance of the Bay Area will change.”
“Everyone, the stance of the Bay Area represents the will of Golden Port. Once they also turn to the mayor, we can only face the end of death.”
The conference room was silent. After a good while, someone finally asked, “Can’t we also defect to the mayor?”
Another person suddenly slammed the table and stood up. He pointed at the person who had just spoken and shouted, “What the f—k are you talking about?”
“I’m f—king saying, can’t we also defect to the mayor?” That person, not to be outdone, also slammed the table and stood up. They were all gang leaders, just some bigger and some smaller. Before they had fought, who was afraid of whom?
Seeing that it was about to get chaotic, Paul slammed the table hard in frustration, “Sit back down!”
Although the Five Families had shown a trend of decline now, their former prestige was still there.
The two sat back down, glaring at each other defiantly. Paul looked at them, “We are discussing, negotiating. I allow you to have all kinds of ideas.”
“You all know that I actually invited more people, but these people didn’t come, including the Doug family from the Bay Area.”
“It’s not that they had something to do and couldn’t come, but that they have already turned to the mayor’s side!”
“Just now you said, can’t we also defect to the mayor?” he pointed at the person who had spoken earlier.
That person, being pointed at by Paul, felt his scalp tingle. He dared to blow his beard and glare at others, but he still didn’t dare to do so to Paul.
He could only squeeze out a smile and barely find a reason, “I… I was just making an analogy.”
Paul shook his head slightly, “Actually, you can give it a try.”
“I’ll tell you the truth, all those who didn’t come were invited by them and joined them.”
“And you people, including me, the Keane family, the Tita family, we are not on the invitation list.”
“Do you know why?”
His face held something that made people feel uncomfortable, “Because he needs to use our blood to wipe away the old rules!”
“And then, stained with our blood, write down his new rules!”